18 December 1918 – Ted to Gertrude

18Dec

Dec 18/18

Dear Mother

Very many thanks for several letters which have arrived from you, one which was dated Oct 16, & which you thought would’nt catch the post but somehow did, though some bright person had scratched out “34th Inf Bde” & put “not known here”! I suppose it got into a Salonika bag or something & there is no 34th Bde there presumably. Anyhow it turned up quite safely. You have the address absolutely right now: I often wonder if M.E.F. is enough or if it’s better to put it out in full. But it seems sufficient-

I got 2 letters from you 3 days ago, one dated 16th Oct again & one of Oct 30th– all letters between these two dates- at any rate from 18th-28th Oct – are missing so far, no one has got any of them, but I imagine they will turn up eventually- I got long letters from Ben & Rosamond this mail, & I owe Jane & Dreda letters too, but I seem to have been so busy lately that I have’nt had much time-

We have had a lot of rain these last few days, & it rained hard all last night. We have rather a good camp here from that point of view, as it dries very quickly and is not muddy. & certainly this rain keeps the dust down. We have only just touched freezing point once so far, & the winter this year has up till now not been anything like so severe as it was when we were up at Ramadi this time last year- Perhaps we’ve got a cold January in store for us.

I am writing this before getting up, as the post goes out at 8, supposed to be an English mail, but I doubt if that really matters very much yet. What about these big aeroplanes cruising about the world now? I did’nt see the one that flew from Cairo to Damascus & then on to Baghdad- A wonderful flight was’nt it- And they say London to Calcutta in 4 days, for the mails, & it can’t be a very far cry from that to passenger carrying. The war has certainly advanced flying beyond all knowledge-

We have not yet heard the election results! And polling day was on Saturday & this is Wednesday! It seems pretty certain that Lloyd George will get in, but we are all wondering with what majority, and how many labour candidates got in and all sorts of things like that. So far Reuter has told us very little, but it seems all the women voted eagerly under the new electoral scheme, many more women than men voted it seems. Also election day seems to have passed off very quietly, it was received almost with apathy, Reuter tells us- P’raps he’ll have something to say this morning-

I don’t seem to have got on with answering your letters much, I’ll tackle them another day- one or two officers have been granted leave home, but only on very urgent grounds- In any case I’d prefer to wait till April or May before starting so as to dodge the hot weather. But so far there is not even a rumour as to what leave will be granted. But one likes to think they will be generous- However, expect me when you see me, & not a minute before- I’m making no rash promises this time!